Tata Coffee Q1 net profit falls 16% to Rs 25.4 crore

NEW DELHI: Tata Coffee today reported about 16 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 25.4 crore for the first quarter of 2015-16, due to higher expenses.

The company had clocked a consolidated net profit of Rs 30.31 crore in the year-ago period.

However, the total consolidated income of the company during the April-June period of the current financial year rose to Rs 396.04 crore from Rs 374.52 crore in the same period of last fiscal.

"...company's plantation business has done well including Pepper. The company has been driving the growth of premium differentiated coffees," Tata Coffee Executive Director Finance and Chief Financial Officer K Venkataramanan said.

He added that the consolidated operating profits for the current quarter was impacted adversely on account of higher raw material costs.

Consolidated profits were down mainly due to higher prices of green coffee which is procured by company's US operating subsidiary, Eight O' Clock Coffee (EOC), Venkatraman added,

Eight O' Clock Coffee has recorded a total income of USD 34.9 Million compared to USD 34.50 million for the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Tata Coffee, a subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages, is Asia's largest integrated coffee company and third largest exporter of instant coffee.

The company produces more than 10,000 tonnes of shade grown Arabica and Robusta coffees at its 19 estates in south India and its two instant coffee manufacturing facilities have a combined installed capacity of 8,400 tonnes.